Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, Vol.5, no.

2, December 2000: 1-17

INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF INTERNATIONAL

ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA LAW FACULTY MEMBERS

Shaheen Majid1
Gava Mugeraa Kassim 2
1
Division of Information Studies
School of Applied Science
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
2
Department of Library and Information Science
International Islamic University Malaysia
e-mail: sheen337@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Adequate knowledge about the information needs and seeking behaviour of
users is vital for developing library collections, services and facilities to meet
their information needs effectively. The purpose of this study is to identify the
information channels used by the International Islamic University Malaysia
(IIUM) law faculty members, information sources preferred by them, methods
employed for getting the needed information and their library use pattern. A
questionnaire was distributed to 80 IIUM law faculty members and 66 filled-
in questionnaires were returned, giving an overall response rate of 82.5
percent. It was found that respondents used various sources for acquiring the
needed information. Books were ranked as the most important source for
teaching and research purposes, followed by law reports and statutes.
Respondents preferred to first consult their personal collection before
resorting to other information providing sources and agencies. The Online
Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) and CD-ROM were the most frequently
used IT-based sources and facilities. E-mail was the most popular among the
Internet-based services and applications. On the whole, respondents
perceived IIUM library collections, services and facilities as adequate to
meet their information needs effectively.

Keywords: Information seeking behaviour; Information needs; Information

channels.

INTRODUCTION
Information is considered as an important resource that contributes towards
the development of a nation. It provides the core for the development of
knowledge, the basis for innovations, the resources for informed citizenry,
and as a result, becomes a key commodity for the progress of a society.
Acknowledging the significance of information in national development,
Wasserman (1991, p. 38) noted that "it is not an accident that the developed
Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

nations are those in which information products and services have been
brought into being and are widely exploited, first in conventional forms and
later through computer intervention". Members of a society acquire the
needed information from a variety of sources. However, several of these
sources are expensive, complex or difficult for individuals to acquire and use.
Therefore, the role of libraries becomes vital in meeting the information
needs of individuals in the society. Libraries develop their collections,
facilities and services to meet the information needs of their patrons.
However, in order to accomplish this task effectively, libraries must have a
thorough understanding of the information needs and information-seeking
behaviour of their users.

Information seeking behaviour is a broad term, which involves a set of

actions that an individual takes to express information needs, seek
information, evaluate and select information, and finally use this information
to satisfy his/her information needs. Various factors may determine the
information seeking behaviour of an individual or a group of individuals. It
is, therefore, desirable to understand the purpose for which information is
required, the environment in which the user operates, users’ skills in
identifying the needed information, channels and sources preferred for
acquiring information, and barriers to information.

Adequate knowledge of the information needs of users is imperative for

libraries in re-orienting their collections, services and activities to
synchronise them with the information seeking behaviour of their patrons.
Bandara (1993, p. 19) noted that ‘if the library is to provide any meaningful
information service, the user [information seeking] habits should be taken
into consideration”. Since the 1940s, numerous studies have been conducted
investigating different aspects of this topic. Earlier studies primarily focused
on scientists and technologists to assist in building information resources and
systems to effectively meet their information needs (Reneker, 1992). Hart
(1993) felt that earlier studies focused on scientists and engineers because of
more interest in these libraries at that time and greater availability of funds.
Later on, the scope of information seeking studies expanded to include
scholars and academics from other disciplines.

Many studies have been conducted to investigate the information-seeking

behaviour of library users based on their subject interest, occupation,
information environment, and geographical location. Information needs and
seeking behaviour of academics have also been a popular area of research.
Many earlier studies reported that scholars and academicians heavily used
books and journals. Hart (1993) investigated the degree to which
academicians and scholars in different disciplines vary in their dependence on

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

books and journals. A questionnaire was sent to 167 faculty members and
140 responded. It was found that 14% of the faculty members from science
stream, 13% from social sciences and 21% from humanities relied more on
books. On the other hand, 53% of the faculty members from science, 33%
from social science, and 7% from humanities relied more on journals. Equal
importance to books and journals was given by 33% academics from science,
54% from social sciences and 74% from humanities.

Sethi (1990) used a questionnaire to study the information-seeking behaviour

of 256 social science faculty members in Indian universities. It was found
that respondents preferred journals, books, government documents and
reference sources for meeting their information needs. The study also
revealed lesser use of indexing and abstracting sources, book reviews,
conference proceedings, dissertations and theses, newspaper clippings and
other non-book sources. However, Prasad (1998) noted that in addition to
journal articles, non-traditional literature such as unpublished conference and
symposia papers, research proposals, policy guidelines, and project reports
were equally popular among the scholars.

Many studies have shown that in additional to formal information sources,

academics also relied heavily on informal communication channels to meet
their information needs. Sethi (1990) noted that academic staff considered
seminar and conferences as the third important source of information after
books and journals. Hart (1993) reported that scholars valued professional
meetings for the purpose of gathering current information. Faculty members
also considered interpersonal contacts, particularly off-campus contacts, as an
important source for getting the needed information. Colleagues were
preferred over other channels, as they were considered familiar, reliable,
immediately accessible, inexpensive, and often provide a concise answer
synthesising the available information (Dee and Blazek, 1993). In order to
develop these informal contacts, libraries should facilitate informal meetings
among scholars and compile up-to-date directories of local and international
scholars in specialised disciplines (Verhoeven, Boerman and Jong, 1995).

Al-Shanbari and Meadows (1995) reported that 36 percent of the

academicians in Saudi universities were spending four hours per week on
reading, whereas, almost three-quarters of the respondents were spending the
same amount of time on communicating with their colleagues. The study
concluded that scholars in developing countries prefer informal channels for
acquiring the needed information because of inadequate and irrelevant library
collections, lack of information infrastructures, ineffective library services,
lack of money to use fee-based information services, inadequately trained and
less co-operative library staff.

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Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

Some studies investigating the information seeking behaviour of scholars and

academics have examined the role of the library in relation to other
information providers. Smith (1987) reported that about one-half of the
respondents from Pennsylvania State University relied more on their personal
collections and borrowing materials from other libraries. Guest (1987) noted
that 85% of the respondents relied on their personal collection as a major
source for information for teaching and research. The author also found that
librarians were rated the lowest as a source for getting the needed
information.

The success of a library in meeting the information needs of its user plays an
important role in the number of their future library visits. Mwila (1993) used
a questionnaire to study the use of University of Zambia library by its faculty
for teaching and research purposes. It was found that humanities and social
science faculty members used library more often compared to science faculty
members. Hart (1993) reported that, on average, each faculty member made
7.3 visits per semester to the library. Majid, Anwar and Eisenschitz, (2000)
found that nearly 42% of the respondents from University Putra Malaysia
visited their library once or twice a week, 37% once or twice a month and
21% several times a year. Nkereuwem (1984) noted a very low frequency of
library visits by petroleum scientists and engineers in Nigeria, where about 84
% of the respondents reported visiting their library just a few times a year.
Only 9% of the scientists were visiting their libraries once or twice a week.
Her study also showed a positive correlation between adequacy of library
materials and frequency of library visits.

The information technology revolution is expected to bring significant

changes in the information-seeking behaviour of users (Kuruppu, 1999;
Pelzer, Wiese and Leysen, 1998; Zhang, 1998; Adedibu and Adio, 1997;
Abels, Liebscher and Denman, 1996). Modern technology has resulted in
new services, targeted at the specialised and unique information needs of
users (Fidzani, 1998). The availability of electronic communication facilities
such as e-mail, discussion groups, bulletin boards, electronic conferencing,
and chit-chat groups, has opened new channels for communication
(Krishnamurthi, 1998; Zhang, 1998; Wilkins and Leckie, 1997; Barry, 1996;
Abdullah, 1995; Shade, 1995).
Bane and Melheim (1995) investigated the use of Internet by academics. A
questionnaire was sent through the Internet to 231 randomly selected
discussion groups. A total of 15,361 questionnaires were returned through e-
mail. Results of the survey disclosed that personal e-mail was utilized
extremely often, more than once a week by nearly 90% of the respondents.
Discussion groups were accessed more than once a week by 75% of the

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

respondents. Electronic journals were accessed far less frequently more than
once a week by 23% of the respondents. The survey also disclosed that many
academics were still not fully aware of available Internet resources and their
applications. Many studies in developing countries have also confirmed these
findings (Al-Shanbari and Meadows, 1995; Reid, 1995). Abdullah (1995)
noted that most of the libraries in Malaysia have yet to utilise the full
potential of the Internet, although it has been available for the last several
years.

A review of literature showed that most of the studies on information-seeking

behaviour of academics have been undertaken in developed countries, and
thus, reflect the information-seeking environment there. However, conditions
in developing countries are considerably different, and they make it relatively
difficult to befittingly apply data from the developed countries. Although a
few isolated studies on the information-seeking behaviour of academicians
have been undertaken in developing countries, little headway has been made
in understanding the complexity of information needs and the manner which
academics in developing countries seek and use information. It was also
noted that no study has been undertaken in Malaysia on the information-
seeking behaviour of law faculty members. This study attempts to investigate
the information-seeking behaviour of law faculty members at the
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). It is expected that the
findings of this study will be useful for the IIUM library, in particular, and
other universities in Malaysia, in general, to properly understand the
information needs of law faculty members. This knowledge can be used to
review the library’s collection development and information access policies.

METHODOLOGY
The study used questionnaire-based survey method, as many similar studies
conducted earlier, have also used this method for data collection. This
method is also preferred as it was less time consuming and economical for a
scattered population. The population of the study consisted of all full-time
academic staff working in the Faculty of Laws, IIUM. Part-time and assistant
lecturers were excluded from the population. Due to limited number of law
faculty members, the entire population of 80 academic staff members, was
included in the survey.
The survey instrument consisted of two sections. Section 1 collected data on
personal information about the respondents such as gender, academic rank,
highest qualification and teaching experience. Section 2 of the questionnaire,
comprising 14 questions, collected data on the information seeking behaviour
of the respondents. Questions in this section focused on the following areas:
information sources used by the respondents, use of IIUM library, adequacy

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Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

of library collections, library use and computing skills of respondents, and the
use of IT-based library sources and services. In order to ensure reliability and
effectiveness of the instrument, the questionnaire was pilot tested on ten
postgraduate students of the Faculty of Laws, IIUM. The pre-testing exercise
was undertaken to identify any problems that potential respondents might
face in understanding questions posed to them. Results of the pilot study
showed that respondents were able to understand the questions and their
responses were interpretable.

In order to save time and ensure better response rate, the questionnaires were
personally distributed to the academic staff in their offices in April 1999.
Respondents were requested to return the filled-in questionnaire to their
departmental secretaries. Fifty-two (65%) filled-in questionnaires were
returned within two weeks of distribution. A follow-up visit was made to
non-respondents and a further 14 questionnaires were collected. A total of 66
filled-in questionnaires were received, showing an overall response rate of
82.5 percent.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Respondents

Of the 66 respondents, 32 (48.5%) were lecturers, 20 (30.3%) assistant

professors, 9 (13.6%) associate professors, and 5 (7.6%) professors. Thirty-
four (51.5%) of the respondents were holding a Ph.D. degree and 32 (48.5%)
had a master’s degree. Twenty-six (39.4%) of the respondents obtained their
highest qualifications from Malaysian universities, 29 (43.9%) from the
United Kingdom and 11 (16.7%) from universities in other countries.
The largest number of respondents, 25 (37.9%), has been teaching for the
last 5 years or less. Eighteen (27.3%) respondents have between 6 and 10
years of teaching experience and 16 (24.3%) had between 11 and 20 years.
Seven (10.6%) respondents have 21 or more years of teaching experience.
Thirty-seven (56.1%) of the respondents were male and 29 (43.9%) were
female.

Library Use Skills of the Respondents

Respondents were asked to provide self-assessment on their level of library
use skills. It was assumed that library use skills might have a bearing on the
ways respondents use the library to acquire the needed information. Those
respondents who have better library use skills were expected to utilise library
resources and facilities more effectively compared to those with poor library
use skills. Data analysis showed that 17 (25.8%) of the respondents assessed
their library use skills as ‘very good’, 36 (19.7%) as ‘good’ and 13 (19.7%)

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

as fair (Table 1). None of the respondents perceived their library use skills as
‘excellent’ or ‘poor’.
Table 1:Library Use Skills of Respondents (N =66)
Skill Level Number Percentage
Excellent - -
Very Good 17 25.8
Good 36 54.5
Fair 13 19.7
Poor - -

It was found that of the 34 respondents with a Ph.D. degree, 27 (85.5%)

possessed ‘good’ or ‘very good’ library use skills whereas, 74.9% of the
respondents with a master’s degree had the same level of library use skills.
Those respondents who obtained their highest qualifications from overseas
universities possessed comparatively better library use skills than locally
trained respondents. It was also found that 91.9% of the male respondents
possessed ‘good’ or better library use skills, whereas, 65.5% of the female
respondents possessed the same level of skills.

Computing Skills of Respondents

Respondents were also asked to provide self-assessment on their level of
computer use skills. It was assumed that level of computing skills might have
an impact on their use of IT-based library sources and facilities. Of the 65
respondents, one perceived his/her computing skills as ‘excellent’, 9 (13.8%)
‘very good’ and 30 (46.2%) as ‘good’ (Table 2). Twenty-five (38.5%) of the
respondents considered their computing skills as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’.
Table 2: Computing Skills of Respondents (N = 65)
Skill Level Number Percentage
Excellent 1 1.5
Very Good 9 13.8
Good 30 46.2
Fair 21 32.3
Poor 4 6.2

It was found that 63.6% of the respondents with a Ph.D. qualification and
59.3% with a mater’s degree possessed good or better computing skills.
Respondents obtaining their highest qualification from overseas academic
institutions possessed comparatively better computing skills than those from

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Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

local universities. It was also found that 63.9% of the male respondents and
58.7% female respondents possessed good or better computing skills.
Over 92% of the respondents have access to a computer at their work place
with 85% in their offices, 10% in the computer laboratory and 5% in the Law
Resource Centre. Of the 66 respondents, 46 (69.7%) have a computer at
home and out of them 21 (45.7%) were connected to the Internet.

Information Seeking Behaviour of Respondents

This section presents data on the information seeking behaviour of the
respondents. It includes data on the office time spent by the respondents on
different activities including reading and literature searching, library use
pattern, perception of the importance of various information sources for
teaching and research and the use of IT-based sources and facilities by the
respondents.

Office Time Spent on Various Activities

Table 3 presents the amount of office time spent by respondents on various
activities. Twenty-eight (43.1%) respondents spent 21% to 40% of their
office time on teaching.
Table 3: Time Spent on Various Activities by Respondents
Time Teaching Student Research Adminis- Reading Other
(%) N = 65 Advisement & Publi- tration & Lit. Activi-
N = 65 cations N = 41 Searching ties
N = 57 N = 61 N = 13
1-20 4 61 44 37 50 12
(6.1%) (93.8%) (77.2%) (90.3%) (82.0%) (91.4%)
21-40 28 4 13 2 9 1
(43.1%) (6.2%) (22.8%) (4.8%) (14.8%) (7.7%)
41-60 30 - - 2 2 -
(46.1%) (4.9%) (3.2%)
61+ 3 - - - - -
(4.5%)
Mean 42.8% 13.5% 14.6% 7.9% 16.9% 2.8%
Time

Another 30 (46.1%) respondents reported spending 41% to 60% of their time

also on teaching. On average, respondents spent 43.1% of their office time on
teaching. A majority of the respondents 61 (93.8%), spent up to 20% of their
office time on student advisement. On average, respondents spent 13.8% of
their time on advising student. Similarly, average office time spent on
research and publication and administration was 14.9% and 8.2%
respectively.

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

Fifty (82%) of the respondents spent up to 20% of their office time on

literature searching and reading. Nine (14.8%) of the respondents spent 21 to
40 percent of their time for this purpose. On average, respondents spent
17.2% of their office time (approximately 8 hours per week) on this activity.
It was also found that mean time spent on reading and literature searching
was the highest among lecturers (21.3%) and the lowest among professors
(11.0%). Similarly, the mean office time spent on reading and literature was
19.3% for female and 15.0% for male respondents.

Information Channels Used by Respondents

Respondents were asked to indicate information channels first consulted by
them for getting the needed information. It was found that 72.9% of the
respondents ‘always’ first consulted their personal collections. Of the 64
respondents, 27 (42.2%) reported ‘always’ and 24 (37.5%) ‘frequently’
visiting the IIUM library for meeting their information needs. The
percentages of respondents ‘always’ and ‘frequently’ approaching their
colleagues were 19.7% and 32.8% respectively. Data analysis suggested that
faculty members preferred to first consult their personal collection for
meeting their information needs followed by library and colleagues.

Table 4: Use of Information Channels by Respondents

Channel N Always Frequently Occasionally Never
Personal Collection 59 43 (72.9%) 13 (22.0%) 3 (5.1%) -
IIUM Library 64 27 (42.2%) 24 (37.5%) 13 (20.3%) -
Colleagues 61 12 (19.7%) 20 (32.8%) 28 (45.9%) 1 (1.6%)
Book Stores 62 3 (4.8%) 20 (32.3%) 37 (59.7%) 2 (3.2%)

Library Visits
Respondents were asked how often they visited the library. Of the 65
participants who responded to this question, 38 (58.5%) visited the library at
least one or twice a week (Table 5). Another 19 (29.2%) respondents visited
the library at least once or twice a month. It was also found that 66.7% of the
male and 48.3% of the female respondents visited the library at least one or
twice a week.
Table 5: Frequency of Library Visits
Visit Frequency Number Percentage
Almost Daily 4 6.2
Once or twice a week 34 52.3
Once or twice a month 19 29.2
Several times a year 8 12.3
Never - -

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Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

A cross-tabulation between the number of library visits and library use skills
of respondents was made to find out if any trend existed between these two
variables. It was found that 81.3% of the respondents with ‘very good’ and
55.5% with ‘good’ library use skills visited their library once or twice a
week. On the contrary, only 38.5% of the respondents with ‘fair’ library use
skills made the same number of library visits. It appears that user with better
library use skills are likely to visit library more frequently compared to those
with low library use skills.

Use of Other Libraries

Respondents were asked to name the libraries they have visited recently
besides using the IIUM library. Thirty-seven respondents reported using the
University of Malaya library and 10 the National Library of Malaysia. Other
libraries used by four respondents each were the National University of
Singapore and National Achives of Malaysia. Some respondents reported
using libraries of Ministry of Lands, National Bank of Malaysia, and certain
law firms.

Methods of Getting Information from the Library

Respondents were asked to indicate methods employed by them for getting
information from the IIUM library. All respondents, with varied frequencies,
personally visited their library for getting the needed information (Table 6).

Table 6: Methods used for Getting Information from the Library (Multiple
Responses)
Method Always Frequently Occasionally
Going Library Personally (N = 66) 51 7 8
Calling the Library (N = 36) - 11 25
Sending Students (N = 19) 1 3 15
Sending Support Staff (N = 9) 1 4 4

Thirty-six respondents reported calling the library for this purpose. Nineteen
faculty members asked their students and 9 sent support staff to get
information from the library. It appeared that in addition to visiting the
library, faculty members also used certain other methods for getting
information from the library.

Importance of Information Sources to Teaching

Respondents were asked how important are different information sources for
their teaching. A five-point Likert scale was used for recording the responses.
Books were ranked as the most important source for teaching (mean score=

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

4.58), followed by law reports and statutes, both with a mean score of 4.50
(Table 7). Research and review articles were at the 4th and 5th place with
mean scores of 4.21 and 3.84, respectively. Encyclopaedias, theses and
indexing and abstracting sources were considered less important for the
teaching purposes. In response to an open-ended option for this question,
three respondents mentioned the Internet, two newspaper reports and one
respondents considered Law Commission Papers as important sources for
teaching.

Table 7: Importance of Information Sources for Teaching

Ranking Information Source N Mean Standard

Score Deviation
1 Books 65 4.58 .66
2 Law Reports 64 4.50 .85
3 Statues 64 4.50 .80
4 Research Articles 66 4.21 .79
5 Review Articles 62 3.84 1.01
6 Legal Digests 64 3.59 .99
7 Conference Abstracts & Proceedings 64 3.23 1.03
8 Abstracting and Indexing Sources 55 3.23 1.10
9 Theses and Dissertations 61 3.18 .87
10 Encyclopaedias 54 2.81 1.12
Scale: 1= Not important 2= Somewhat important 3= Important
4= Very important 5= Extremely important

Importance of Information Sources to Research and Publication

Books were ranked as the most important source for the research and
publication work (mean score = 4.62), closely followed by law reports (mean
score = 4.58) and statutes (mean score 4.53). Research and review articles
were ranked 4th and 5th with score scores of 4.38 and 4.14 respectively (Table
8). Encyclopaedias, indexing and abstracting sources and theses were
considered less important for the purpose of research and publication. Four
respondents in response to an open-ended option for this question reported
that the Law Commission homepage, the Internet and decided cases were
important for their research and publication work.

A comparison showed that respondents assigned almost the same importance

to various information sources for teaching and research, with slight variation
in their mean scores. It appeared that law faculty members needed the same
type of information sources for teaching and research and publication work.

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Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

Table 8: Importance of Information Sources for Research and Publication

Rankin Information Source N Mean Standard
g Score Deviation
1 Books 66 4.62 .55
2 Law Reposts 65 4.58 .73
3 Statues 62 4.53 .74
4 Research Articles 66 4.38 .74
5 Review Articles 63 4.14 .84
6 Legal Digests 62 3.84 .89
7 Conference abstracts & Proceedings 63 3.75 .97
8 Theses and Dissertations 63 3.73 .94
9 Abstracting and Indexing Sources 57 3.67 .93
10 Encyclopaedias 59 3.36 1.17
Scale: 1= Not important 2= Somewhat important 3= Important
4= Very important 5= Extremely important

Adequacy of Library Collections

Respondents were asked to provide their assessment of the adequacy of the

IIUM library collections in meeting their information needs. Law reports
obtained the highest mean score of 3.58, closely followed by statutes with a
mean score of 3.54. Journals and books were ranked 3rd and 4th for their
adequacy with mean scores of 3.27 and 3.15 respectively (Table 9). Audio-
visual materials and CD-ROM databases were ranked the lowest with mean
scores of 2.78 and 2.96, respectively. The respondents who responded to an
open-ended option for this question mentioned that newspaper clippings were
inadequate at the IIUM library. It was noted that most library collections
received mean scores in a range from 3.0 to 4.0 for their adequacy. This
means that IIUM law faculty members consider the library collection to be
quite adequate in meeting their information needs.

Table 9: Adequacy of Library Collections

Collection Type N Mean Score Standard Deviation
Law Reports 62 3.58 .98
Statutes 63 3.54 1.08
Journals 64 3.27 1.07
Books 66 3.15 .98
Reference Materials 62 3.03 .96
CD-ROM Databases 52 2.96 1.03
Audio-visual Materials 48 2.78 1.35

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

Use of IT-based Library Sources and Facilities

Among the IT-based library sources and facilities offered by the IIUM
library, respondents used the library OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue)
more frequently (mean score = 3.05). It was followed by CD-ROM databases
and access to local and international online databases with a mean score of
2.74 and 2.55, respectively (Table 10). Audio-visual and multimedia
collections were the least used (mean score = 1.96) library resources.

Table 10: Use of IT-based Library Sources and Facilities by Respondents

IT-based Sources and Facilities N Mean Standard
Score Deviation
Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) 58 3.05 1.33
CD-ROM databases and products 58 2.74 1.38
Online local and international databases 58 2.55 1.33
In-house information databases 53 2.42 1.34
Audio-visual and multimedia collections 55 1.96 1.05
Scale: 0= Never ; 1= Rarely ; 2 = Frequently ; 3= Quite frequently ; 4= Very frequently

Use of Internet

Fifty-eight (87.9%) of the respondents reported using the Internet. These

respondents were further asked to provide information on the use of various
Internet-based services and applications (Table 11). Electronic mail appeared
to be the most popular Internet application among the respondents (mean
score = 4.18). It was followed by Internet-based electronic information
sources such as electronic journals and contents pages (mean score = 3.47)
and OPACs of local and overseas universities (mean score=2.75). The file
transfer protocols (ftp) appeared to be the least popular Internet application.
In response to an open-ended option for this question, seven respondents
reported using the Internet for accessing online databases, newspapers and
news services.

Table 11:Use of the Internet-based Services and Applications

Internet-based Services and Applications N Mean Standard
Score Deviation
Electronic mail 55 4.18 .92
Electronic information sources (e.g. 55 3.47 1.25
electronic journals, contents pages)
OPACs of local and overseas universities 52 2.75 1.31
Electronic bulletin boards and discussion groups 47 2.32 1.45
File transfer protocols (ftp) 43 2.07 1.40
Scale: 0= Never ; 1= Rarely ; 2= Frequently ; 3= Quite frequently ; 4= Very frequently

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Majid, S & Kassim, G.M.

All the Internet applications were most popular among associate professors
and the least popular among professors. Similarly, for almost all Internet
services and applications the male respondents showed better mean scores
compared to their female counterparts.
Library Effectiveness
Respondents were asked to provide their overall assessment of the
effectiveness of IIUM library in meeting their information needs. Out of the
66 participants, 37 considered the library ‘effective’ in meeting their
information needs (Table 12). Another 26 (39.4%) of the respondents
perceived the library as ‘somewhat effective’. None of the respondents
assessed the library as ‘very ineffective’. It appeared that a majority of the
law faculty members were satisfied with the collections, services and
facilities provided by the IIUM library for meeting their information needs.
Table 12: Overall Effectiveness of the IIUM Library
Effectiveness Level N Percentage
Very effective 2 3.0
Effective 37 56.1
Somewhat effective 26 39.4
Ineffective 1 1.5
Very ineffective - -

CONCLUSION
The study investigated the information needs and information-seeking
behaviour of law faculty members at the International Islamic University
Malaysia. It was found that respondents used a variety of information sources
for teaching and research. Books, law reports and statutes were considered
more important. It is interesting to note that, although respondents perceived
the IIUM library as effective in meeting their information needs, they prefer
to first consult their personal collections. It might be due to easy and
convenient access to the personal collection and/or unawareness about library
collections, services and facilities. It is also noted that a considerable number
of respondents also visited certain other libraries, which are quite far from the
IIUM campus. It is understandable that no one library can acquire all
materials produced in a particular discipline. However, in view of the fact
that a considerable number of respondents visited other libraries, it is possible
that they might not be aware of the interlibrary loan service provided by the
IIUM library. Presently, the OPACs of all major academic libraries in
Malaysia are accessible through the Internet. Thus, the IIUM law faculty
members might like to search these online catalogues to identify the needed

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 Information-Seeking Behaviour of IIUM Law Faculty Members

materials and requests the IIUM library to acquire them through the
interlibrary loan service. This would help to save time, money and efforts of
these academics.

The study revealsed that the respondents used IT-based library sources and
facilities less frequently compared with printed sources. It might be due to the
lack of awareness about their availability, improper selection of materials or
unfamiliarity with these products. Similarly, it is also noted that e-mail is the
most popular Internet application, whereas other Internet-based services and
applications are only used by a limited number of respondents. This is a
matter of concern, as presently, electronic information sources and the
Internet are considered extremely important tools for effective teaching and
research. Therefore, the IIUM library might like to review its electronic
information resources, while at the same time embark on an extensive library
promotion and user education programme.

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